Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 27352
Hints and tips by scchua
+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +
BD Rating – Difficulty *+*/2 – Enjoyment ***
A straightforward enjoyable, as usual, one from Jay, to whom thanks. A 1.5*/3* for difficulty/enjoyment.
P.S. If you still find the mechanics of the hints a mystery, you should read the following, which should help in understanding.
Definitions are underlined in the clues (in blue).
Words in blue are lifted from the clues.
Italicised words are instructions for constructing the answer. Parentheses following these enclose the indicators from the clues. Eg. Reversal of(up, in a down clue).
[xxx;yyy] denotes that a synonym for xxx or yyy is required.
{} are used to give the order of construction. Eg. Reversal of(up, in a down clue) AB + C is different from Reversal of(up, in a down clue) {AB + C}.
Please leave a comment telling us what you thought. You can also add your assessment by selecting from one to five stars at the bottom of the post.
Across
1a Offers supply vessel and leaves without permission (7)
{TENDERS} : [a supply vessel] plus(and) “leaves” minus(without) [permission].
5a One might sink eight pints, full of energy! (7)
{GALLEON} : [unit of measurement equal to eight pints] containing(full of) [abbrev. for “energy” in physics].
Defn: … in the sea.
9a Knit bag for loose change (5)
{PURSE} : Double defn: 1st: To pucker up;fold into wrinkles, say, your brow.
10a What one does after an alarming breakdown? (9)
{OVERSLEEP} : Cryptic defn: What one does in bed if the alarm clock breaks down.
11a Thrashing hit general badly (10)
{LEATHERING} : Anagram of(badly) HIT GENERAL.
12a What the Irish used to gamble? (4)
{PUNT} : Double defn: 1st: What money the Irish used to, well, bet with; and 2nd: To gamble on, say, a horse race.
Answer: And here’s a 3rd defn:
14a Sportsmen currently accommodated between son and lodgers (12)
{SNOWBOARDERS} : [currently;at this very moment] containing()accommodated between [abbrev. for “son”] + [those who lodge, in, say a hostel].
Answer: …men and women, too.
18a Authority from church to enter ruined tabernacle (5,7)
{CARTE BLANCHE} : [abbrev. for “church”] contained in(to enter) anagram of(ruined) TABERNACLE.
Answer: From the French.
21a Oil originally found in desiccated fish (4)
{DORY} : 1st letter of(originally) “oil” contained in(found in) [dessicated;from which moisture has been extracted].
22a Sorted date out and had a trial run (4-6)
{ROAD-TESTED} : Anagram of(out) SORTED DATE.
Defn: Of a motor car, say, having had a trial run.
25a Flower, for example, in say, seasonal fare (6,3)
{EASTER EGG} : { [a bloom;a flower] + [abbrev. from Latin for “for example”] } contained in(in) [say;for example].
Defn: … earlier in the year than the Christmas turkey.
26a Nothing carried by bamboo craft (5)
{CANOE} : [the letter representing 0;nothing] contained in(carried by) [a rod, possibly of bamboo].
27a Sit back drinking healthy infusions (7)
{TISANES} : Reversal of(back) SIT containing(drinking) [healthy in mind].
28a Slate and pine – what style! (7)
{PANACHE} : [to slate;to criticise harshly] plus(and) [to pine;to long for desperately].
Down
1d Crown prince begins with the French drink (6)
{TIPPLE} : [the crown;the bit at the end] + 1st letter of(begins) “prince” plus(with) [French for “the”].
Defn: … of an alcoholic nature.
2d Country absolutely not accepting king (6)
{NORWAY} : [absolutely not;not by any means (2,3) ] containing(accepting) [abrrev. For the Latin for “king”].
3d Fair – yet editor supports worker (4-6)
{EVEN-HANDED} : [yet;still] + { [abbrev. for “editor”] placed below(supports, in a down clue) [a worker, this time not an ant but a human] }.
4d Beatles’ final pathetic track (5)
{SPOOR} : Last letter of(…s’ final) “Beatles” + [pathetic;bad].
Answer: By which to track, usually, an animal.
5d Person with no experience of putting area on alarm (9)
{GREENHORN} : [a common open are, eg. in a village] placed above( , in a down clue) [an instrument to sound the alarm with, eg. from a ship travelling in fog.
6d Whip remains suppressed by Left (4)
{LASH} : [remains after burning] placed below(suppressed by, in a down clue) [abbrev. for “left”].
7d Does away with administrators, sacking four in Rome (8)
{EXECUTES} : [the administrators in an organisation] minus(sacking) [the Roman numeral for “four”].
Answer: Does away with;terminates with extreme prejudice, as the spooks say.
8d Keeping it in the family? (8)
{NEPOTISM} : Cryptic defn: The practice, by a person in authority, of filling positions with family members.
13d A Catholic head developed argument against Anglican clergyman (10)
{ARCHDEACON} : A + [abbrev. for a Catholic] + anagram of(developed) HEAD + [an argument against].
15d Reorganised Lakers vow easy victories (9)
{WALKOVERS} : Anagram of(Reorganised) LAKERS VOW. Which may well be true of the US basketball team, the Lakers.
Answer: Another meaning of which is this:
16d It might provide proof for detectives in a trial (4,4)
{ACID TEST} : [abbrev. for the department of detectives in the police force] contained in(in) { A + [a trial].
17d Checks about 1000 supports (8)
{ARMRESTS} : [checks;stops something from proceeding] containing(about) [Roman numeral for 1000].
Answer: He’s using them, well, sort of, but there aren’t any supports for her, well, sort of:
19d New kitchen has no end of stock from foreign cultures (6)
{ETHNIC} : Anagram of(New) “kitchen” minus the last letter of(has no end of) “stock”.
Answer: Descriptive of cultures of different groups, not necessarily only foreign ones.
20d Stick present under notice (6)
{ADHERE} : [indicative of being present at a roll call, say] placed below(under, in a down clue) [short for a notice promoting, say, a product].
23d Unearth grub, oddly, during slump (3,2)
{DIG UP} : 1st and 3rd letters of(oddly) “grub” contained in(during) [to slump;to go down].
24d Give instructions to cover vessel (4)
{VEIN} : Hidden in(to cover) “Give instructions”.
Defn: … for a fluid in your body.
The Quick crossword pun: (asti} + {kiwi} + {kit} = {a sticky wicket}
I thought the Quickie Pun was particularly appropriate considering what’s starting tonight.
27A held me up not a word I generally use, apart from that it was full steam ahead & agree with scchua ratings. Favourite clue today was 10A something that happens from time to time.Many thanks to the setter & scchua for an excellent review.
Where is the flower in easterg 25a?
The flower is ASTER
A nice crossword. I do not think I would ever get 24d and at 1d I had Topple. Crown = Top. P = Prince and Le = The french. I didn’t notice that it didn’t really fit the clue. Thanks to Scchua and also Jay for a pleasant workout. The Open University calls. I am off to the Arctic, or given the weather forecasts, should I wait for the arctic to come to me?
I found this fairly straightforward today; perhaps as I did the toughie first, due to the internet link to this puzzle not working earlier this morning. Many thanks to Jay, and to scchua for the review.
I thought the toughie was very good today.
About 2* for difficulty and maybe a bit nearer 4* for enjoyment for me today.
I know that I’m really bad at the hidden in the middle answers but I don’t very often miss them completely and admit defeat – oh dear! Will I ever learn?
Apart from that I was held up with 12a – eventually guessed the answer because of the ‘gamble’ and looked it up – didn’t know that it was old Irish money.
I thought 25a was a sneaky one – not so much because of how to arrive at the answer but more because it’s not really what most of us are thinking about at the moment.
1a took ages to understand the ‘why’ part of it.
I liked 10 and 18a and 2 and 7d. My favourite was 4d.
With thanks to Jay and scchua.
An enjoyable puzzle, 24d just didn’t get it, it’s the four letter ones that bite you.
Thanks for the review.
Thanks to the setter.
Me too . Galling when it’s been staring you in the face. It was pretty obtuse though.
All pretty straight forward today – Jay in easy mode methinks.
Apart from I could not see 24d. So blumin’ obvious when I read the hint. Doh
Thanks to Jay for letting me complete one of yours and to scchua for the hints.
Can’t say I’ve ever come across 27A before, but it was solvable with a bit of thought. Other than that, some very good clueing today, although I’m afraid my favourite of the day isn’t even in this crossword (not sure if this is permitted, but buglit as Young Sam might say*) – but is in fact the excellent pun in the Quickie, the answers came with no problem, but it took a good 15 minutes of muttering it to myself until it resolved itself – and me a cricket nut.
* See ‘Where’s My Cow’ by Sir Terry Prachett
It took me longer than 15 minutes of walking round muttering and then when I came through to look at today’s blog I read gazza’s comment at the top and guessed what the subject was likely to be
and then got it instantly.
Here is a link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where%27s_My_Cow%3F and here is another. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY_CcVY2rBU For once, I am saying nothing.
Interesting pronunciation of the word Sybil.
Thanks for review scchua, completely missed the inclusive clue at 24d! thought 12a was clever but favourite clue 10a
nice fine day here today, but still not up to going out!!! 
Thank you Mary for usuing the term “inclusive word”. They were introduced to be circa 1990 as “included words” I dislike the term “Hidden word” it sounds far too schoolboy-ish and we are all above that. (Says he with his nose in the air)
As a rule, I don’t like the ‘inclusive words’. Occasionally, there is a clever one but on the whole it seems a bit, well, schoolboy-ish as Miffypops said. Like a word search – where’s the fun in that?
But there is a point which has bothered me from time to time. I thought that the convention was that a crossword shouldn’t contain more than one ‘inclusive word’. But recently, I have seen crosswords with more than one.
Was the ‘no more than one included word’ convention something I dreamt?
I’m perfectly happy to be told so.
I found this very straightforward apart from 1a which I guessed from the available letters but I’m still not getting it. Even with the hint.
Please can someone explain?
A supply vessel followed by S – leaves without leave (permission)
Ah, thank you!!
i thought it was a triple definition as explained below
See my reply below. It just doesn’t word as a triple definition.
Rather a lot of anagrams but nevertheless enjoyed this. **/***. Not sure if 9a does in fact mean knit and I wonder about presumed synonym of healthy in 27a. 24d didn’t occur to me,10a amused and 1d had me searching for a Crown Prince beginning with “the” French! Many thanks Jay and Scchua.
Re 9a: Knit does indeed mean purse (as in ‘pursed lips’ :
From the HyperDictionary
Definition:
[n] needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine
[n] a basic knitting stitch
[n] a fabric made by knitting
[v] to gather something into small wrinkles or folds; “She puckered her lips”
[v] make (textiles) by knitting; “knit a scarf”
[v] tie or link together
Regarding knit & purse…..well you can knit your brow & purse your lips but you cannot purse your brow & knit your lips…..
Very true, thanks. Didn’t like that one at all as I would never use knit in either context. I thought it was a knotted brow, but if the dictionary says otherwise…!
…and sane can indeed mean healthy, from the Latin sanus, sound or healthy, as in the Latin phrase ‘Mens sana in corpore sano’ (A healthy mind in a healthy body).
Took ages to get gong then quite enjoyed it but failed completely to spot 24d – dreadful! Best clue for me was 10a, just love pun type clues and 27a reminded me so much of David Suchets wonderful portrayal of Poirot who never took tea but had a Tisane.
Thx to all concerned.
1*/3* rating for a gentle but very enjoyable puzzle.
24d was my last one in. I am normally quite good at spotting “included” words, but this one took me much longer ttoday han any of the other clues.
4d was a new word for me and 27a is one that has cropped up a few times in my relatively short (so far!) cryptic career but which I keep forgetting!
25a was my favourite.
Many thanks to Jay and to Scchua.
You nearly convince me about knit, Skempie. I’ll go with pucker but purse?!
If you purse your lips, you press them together tightly. I believe that this was the original meaning of the word and that purse (as in a place to put money) was derived from it (ie a small bag with open end closed tightly)
purse
pəːs/Submit
noun
1.
BRIT.
a small pouch of leather or plastic used for carrying money, typically by a woman.
“she had enough in her purse for bus fare”
synonyms: wallet, pouch, money bag; More
the money possessed by or available to a person or country.
“institutions are funded from the same general purse”
synonyms: fund, funds, resources, money, kitty, pool, coffers, bank, treasury, exchequer, finances, wealth, reserves, cash, capital, assets; More
a sum of money given as a prize in a sporting contest, especially a boxing match.
“a fight for which his purse was $400,000”
synonyms: prize, award, reward; More
2.
N. AMER.
a handbag.
“a young woman with a purse hanging from her elbow”
synonyms: handbag, bag, clutch bag, shoulder bag, evening bag, pochette; More
verb
verb: purse; 3rd person present: purses; past tense: pursed; past participle: pursed; gerund or present participle: pursing
1.
(with reference to the lips) pucker or contract, typically to express disapproval or irritation.
“Marianne took a glance at her reflection and pursed her lips disgustedly”
synonyms: press together, compress, contract, tighten, pucker, screw up, wrinkle, pout
I only drink green tea yet didn’t know it was called Tisane, you live and learn. **/**** for me today. Thanx to Compiler and to scchua for his review.
Of interest; the advert above for FREE access to military records (forces-war-records.co.uk/records) is NOT free. The minimum charge is £8 something a month.
Hi Wayne – Tisane is the French name!
Hercule Poirot is always asking Miss Lemon to fetch his Tisane.
….but I thought it was spelt Ptisane.
Thanks to Jay and to scchua for an enjoyable crossword and an amusing review.
isnt 1a a triple definition.
offers tenders
supply ship is a tender
and you tender your resignation and if you havent tendered it then you have left without permission
The answer is in the plural, which rules out supply ship. Tenders on its own doesn’t mean leaves, with or without permission.
I enjoyed sparring but remain unconvinced however dare not say “I rest my case” so will just go quietly! Perhaps I’m splitting hairs (or lips!)anyway.
27a These are drunk by Hercule Poirot
Thanks sschua for pointing out the unobvious in 24d 1d, in an otherwise gentle crossword, and thanks to Jay as well.
27a is a word only ever seen in crosswords or in a Poirot book.
I missed 24d as well, I’d listed something like 20 words that fitted, including the right answer, but missed spotting anything that was a “vessel”. Otherwise it was nearly 1* for me.
About a**/***, like most of the bloggers 24d caused problems, presumably because the answer is not thought of as being synonymous with ‘vessel’ and wasn’t described as such in any reference books I tried-doubtless it lurks somewhere, similarly the solution to 9a and knit I thought rather tenuous, even after reading Scchua’s reasoning, I am not convinced; thought it must have been referring to knitting as in -knit one purl one!
I may have misunderstood you, but a **** is a blood vessel…….
I thought “leaves without permission” was very clever. Hope it comes up again
Fairly straightforward apart from 24d. The barman at the golf club was doing last Thursday’s Toughie today, and I was able to impress him with my explanations of a couple of clues. It’s much easier the second time round!
I’ll never forget going off to play rugby many years ago, we were in the club mini-bus and I promptly fell asleep. When we arrived at the place we were playing, some one woke me up and said something about the whole team being stuck on the last clue of the crossword – something about Cinderella and University. Without even thinking I said ‘Rags to Riches’ – as you said, makes one feel good (well, OK, smug)
Re PURSE/KNIT
Knit comes up as a synonym for purse (as a verb) in Collins Thesaurus. Have a look here:-
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/purse
Good puzzle, really enjoyed this one. I never got 12a, I needed the hint to get it … never knew the Irish pound was called that. I also had trouble with 24d but did get it in the end. I had spelled 27a with two “s” in the middle which threw me off, goes to show that one should read the clues instead of just writing in answers. The clue clearly states that “sit” back is around healthy. Thanks to Jay and scchua for a good start to the day.
OK I stand corrected everyone.
If you lick on the REPLY button above, all the replies get grouped together
Isn’t that getting a bit intimate?
Thanks to Jay and to scchua for the review and hints. Very straightforward until I came to 17 & 24d, needed the hints for theses two, would never have got 17, and missed the hidden word in 24 doh! Was 2*/3* for me. Favourite was 10a.
Enjoyed solving this puzzle.
At first thought 24a might be DERV but then remembered a fish restaurant down in the Var where they always have John!
Faves were 12a & 24d.
Thank you Jay and thank you Scchua. Lovely day on the Lancashire coast at Marshside and Martin Mere. In a fluster to get started this morning and same this evening to try to finish. Needed some hints eventually to progress: thanks Scchua. Fairly conservative on the photo front !
Late on it today. Most fairly straightforward but got stuck on the NW corner. Of course, like nearly everyone else, 24d did not fall. Caused me a burst blood vessel. Liked the review today SCCHUA – nice. Needed it too with a handful of clues. I don’t know how you people manage to solve three or four puzzles in a day. My failures today have just ensured there will be a whiff of anger in tomorrow’s.
Evenin’ all.
I’ve never seen so many of us completely defeated by one of the less difficult hidden-in-the-middles!
Not just me for once!
Late start and later finish today. All went well until nw corner and 24d of course. Hints needed for 1a and 9a which was last in.
I liked 21a best and 19d was well constructed on surface level.
Thanks to Jay and Scchua
Late start for me, too, and I haven’t finished. Things have rather been spoiled for me because I couldn’t help but see some of the answers when I printed off today’s (Thursdays) puzzle this morning.
I would never have seen that hidden-in-the-middle 24d either! As far as I had got, my joint faves were 5d and 16d.
Many thanks to both Jay and Scchua.